Improvement in railroad-rails



- road-rail, and Fig. 2

UNITE STATES PATENT Drrron ASA JOHNSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD-RAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 144,029, dated October 28, 1873; application filed March 12, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ASA JOHNSON, of New York, in the county of New York and in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad- Rail; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists inthe construction and arrangement of a railroadrail with the mode of connecting the rails and fastening them to the ties, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth. r

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my railis a transverse vertical section of the same.

A represents a center steel bar, with a wrought-iron bar, B, on each side, forming the body of the rail, and a base, 0, cast on the same. The central steel bar- A is made in any suitable manner, in rectangular or other desirable form, and of the desired length for a railroad-rail. The wrought-iron bars B B are made of the same length and width, and

riveted to the steel bar A, one on each side, but in such a manner that the bars will project beyond each other, as shown in the drawing. The rail thus formed of the bars A- and B B'is placed in the mold, and the cast-iron base 0 cast on it, said base having flanges a a projecting upward, one on each side. In the outer side of each wroughtiron bar B are a number of indentations, i 1, near what is intended to become the lower edge of the rail, so that when the base 0 is cast onto the same the cast metal will enter said indentations and hold the united bars firmly in its place. When the molten metal is poured into the mold it heats the bars A and B B, so that it will all shrink and contract together, and thus unite the whole into one solid rail, having a steel center, wrought-iron sides, and cast-iron ase.

When the rails are put together or laid down to form the track, it will be noticed that the bars A and B B of the adjoining rails what I claim as new, and desire to A break joints in such a manner that opposite each joint between two bars are two smooth surfaces, and thus a continuous unbroken rail is formed, doing entirely away with the usual thumping of the wheels at the joints, which is not only so destructive to the rolling-stock, but also so dangerous, as it is the most fruitful source of accidents on railroads.

At the end of each rail are made horizontal rectangular slots 1) I), through which are passed bolts 01 d, upon the ends of which are screwed nuts 0 e to fasten two rails together in the manner shown, the slots b b allowing or permitting the contraction and expansion of the rails. The body of the bolts (1 is made square to prevent the bolts from turning, and in each nut e is screwed a set-screw, f, the end of which is pointed, as shown in Fig. 2, so that when screwed down it will fit in between the threads on the bolt and not injure the threads. By screwing down the set-screw the nut is firmly held on the bolt, and cannot come loose by the jarring incident to the trains passing over the track, and the nut is fastened at any desired point. The screw f may also be put in at the end of the bolt, as shown at m, Fig. 1. In the center of each rail-base G on each side is a slot or notch for the passage of a T or other suitably shaped spike, m, for the purpose of fastening the rail solidly in the center to a tie, while from the center toward each end the rail is held by the usual hook-shaped spikes n n. This divides the contraction and expansion equally on both ends of the rail, so that the spaces left by their contraction will be uniform, and not as now the rails be jammed up close at one end, and a very large space left at the other end, both of the individual rails and of A the road.

Having thus fully described my invention, secure by Letters Patent, is-

A railroad-rail formed of the center bar A, side bars B B, and base 0, constructed and arranged substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of March, 1873.

ASA JOHNSON. YV1tnesses:

A. N. DIARR, O. L.'lfiVERT. 

